Leadership Lessons from Jesus

One of the biggest drawbacks about the world that we live in is the fact that we are bereft of any good leaders. Every now and then, in each generation we have certain gifted people that emerge with great promise to redefine the human march to progress. They leave behind a great deal of teachings and values that the successors look up to and imbibe, till the next big idea emerges. One of the leaders that redefined the way we live even today is Jesus. The spiritual leader of billions of Christians worldwide, it is believed that thousands of years ago, he was born into a poor carpenter’s family. Being a member of a royal lineage of Jews, he was instrumental in propagating a new message of inclusiveness and salvation. The Jews under the cruel colonial oppression rejected and assassinated him because they couldn’t believe that he was the promised Messiah from their scriptures and lore. However it is believed that he was risen on third day in accordance with the scriptures and after spending weeks with his disciples he was taken into heaven. His followers known as disciples, aided by the extensive shipping lines and roads built by the Roman Empire, took his message to the ends of the world. Within a few centuries, the entire world followed the teaching of Jesus Christ and became known as Christians.

How did Jesus succeed so well? His message of inclusiveness, forgiveness, salvation, hope and grace might have been powerful and revolutionary for the people of those times. However how did this movement grow so huge and wide and became so relevant, even today? I believe there lies the answer that any successful leader needs to learn and understand.

Based on my observations over the years and based on my notes, a leader is one who needs to be at peace with God, himself, the nature and everyone around him. He needs to have the following qualities:

1. He needs to have the faith in God and himself to weather storms and if needed, walk on water.
2. Personal good should never be factored in the equation. He should empower and live for others.
3. He has to clearly communicate the following:

• Vision.
• What are you doing?
• Why are you doing?
• How are you doing?
• Clarity of how they align with the vision.
• Execute, learn and continuous improvement.

4. He needs to be concise, focused, creative and gracious.
5. He needs to have a team of doers, delegate and hold them accountable to deliver the vision.

If you look at the life of Jesus, one can find Jesus after being anointed by John, he:

• First built a team of doers: fishermen, tax collectors etc. he chose them because they were not elite, but because they were doers.
• He had a purpose, plan in place and he was a good communicator through his parables and sermons.
• He tenaciously built his team, delegated works to them and held them accountable by the power of Holy Spirit,

I would like to conclude by one simple statement:

Leadership is vision, communication, teamwork, execution and continuous improvement.